Monday, September 6, 2010

The morning was cool, blue skies, and ---- WINDY. 30 “members and friends” of Friday’s Council Tree Chapter, NSDAR gathered at the east end of Walnut Street in Windsor, Colorado to await the beginning of the 2010 Harvest Festival Parade.Dave & Lyn Rubenthaler, Pat Johnson, and Carolyn Goodwin met earlier at Cathy & Lawrence England’s house to hook up the float (to Dave’s beautiful 1949 Chevy pickup) and make sure we had all of our decorations, signs, baskets of candy, flags and pencils etc ready and loaded on the trailer for the trip to the start up point (in the upper right hand corner of the map). One by one the others arrived to get ready to sit on the float. Many of the ladies and all of the children were in colonial costumes and were a fantastic sight.

As with any parade, the start was delayed for a time, in this case about ½ hour so it was 9:30 before we started moving. Finally we began to move and the excitement started. As we neared the area where the spectators were sitting the spirit of the day kicked in, we all started to feel the welcome of the crowd and we started waving.

Our “walking crew” worked wonders as they passed out the candy, pencils and little American flags. The “float crew” worked wonders by smiling, waving and trying to hang onto the signs in the wind. I did mention the wind didn’t I? Oh my goodness, it was a healthy Northern Colorado wind, we are close to Wyoming after all. Yesterday it was a really hot day and today was a 180 degree change. But we didn’t lose a sign, a hat, a friend or a child so we were victorious.

1.6 (more or less) miles later we turned into Eastman Park (the green star at the lower left hand corner of the map). We had run the gauntlet so to speak. It was fun and a great feeling as we proudly flew our 1776 flag and our 50 star flag at the head of the float. Karen Hancock portrayed Betsy Ross sewing a gigantic, sparkling flag and she did a great job. As we passed the judges the children that were walking curtsied and bowed and we all turned our smiles on big time.

Friends of Friday’s Council Tree Chapter that helped were: Dave Rubenthaler, Lawrence England, Brian Carroll, Crissy Carroll, Kathy & Kelly Heifner and Megan Race. A special mention of thanks goes to prospective member, Phyllis Chatterton, who did so much to make the float look professional with the beautiful letters on the signs that were real eye catchers.

It was interesting that as the “walking team” was passing out items, many of the kids were reaching for and asking for the American flags!! That tells us something great about the next generation, doesn’t it? We passed out 1008 American flags, 312 patriotic pencils and untold pieces of candy.

It was a good day to be an American and to be a DAR member. My favorite part? When veterans in the crowd “uncovered” as we passed as a token of respect for our flag and our American Revolutionary Patriots – the very first American Veterans! It made the great effort worth it and reinforces to me that America is the best country in the World.